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Audit Shows Raiders Owe $800,000 In Oakland Coliseum Parking Revenue

A general view during the Oakland Raiders game against the San Diego Chargers at O.co Coliseum on October 12, 2014 in Oakland, California. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

OAKLAND (KCBS) — The Oakland Raiders owe hundreds of thousands of dollars in parking revenue to the Coliseum stadium authority, which puts them in default on their lease and could jeopardize the team’s ability to keep playing at the Coliseum.

The stunning revelation came at Wednesday’s Oakland-Alameda County Authority board meeting.

An audit by the authority discovered the Raiders have been making only minimum payments since at least 2013, and owe an estimated $25,000 more per game since then, which could total more than $800,000.

The team has exercised its option to play in Oakland for the 2017 season while their new stadium is being built in Las Vegas. But under the terms of their agreement, if they’re in default and do not make good on the money they owe, that option can be voided.

The Raiders dispute how much they owe, but have not turned over the relevant documents for all of the seasons involved, and did not respond to KCBS requests for comment.

“It’s a slap in the face,” board chair Larry Reid. “It’s frustrating. We’ve got to make sure that we hold them accountable and that they repay back to the public the money that is owed.”

“I’m blindsided by it, but the last thing I want to do is get in another fight with the Raiders,” board member and county Supervisor Scott Haggerty said. “I just want to get through these next two years with the Raiders, and let the fans enjoy a couple more years of football here in Oakland.”

Board members expect the team to resolve the dispute and continue playing at the Coliseum in 2017. But if they don’t pay up, Reid said he will not agree to exercise the Raiders’ option to play in Oakland for the 2018 season.

The Raiders’ new stadium in Las Vegas won’t be ready until 2020. It is not yet known where the team will play the 2019 season.

Doug Sovern began his career as a copy boy at the New York Times, and then moved to California to play in a rock band. After hundreds of gigs, an indie album and a whole lot of session work failed to make him a rock star, Doug returned to journalis...

One Comment

Oh, really? The Raiders have been making only minimum payments for more than 3 years and the Oakland-Alameda County Authority JUST NOW discovered this? They had to audit their books to find it? Nobody knew before, not even the people receiving the checks that suddenly dropped to minimum payments, unaccompanied by proof of amounts owed? Yeah, right. The Authority has obviously been derelict in its duty to collect these funds, allowing the Raiders to skip out on hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to Alameda County taxpayers. If Haggerty doesn’t want to get into a fight with the Raiders, maybe he needs to resign as supervisor. In fact, maybe they all need to resign, for allowing this fiasco.